(Nat Geo Music)

www.worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com

Probably because founder Ori Kaplan used to be in Gogol Bordello, Balkan Beat Box has been labeled "gypsy-punk." But there's not much punk on the New York-based trio's third album, which is modeled heavily on the loping, polyglot music of Manu Chao (and his former band, Mano Negra). Blue Eyed Black Boy mashes up klezmer, Latin jazz, Moroccan trance, hip- and trip-hop, Bulgarian women's choirs and -- of course -- reggae. What has changed this time around is that the songs are sturdier and the lyrics more earnest.

Emulating Rastafarianism's frequently child-like politics, singer-rapper Tomer Yosef informs listeners that war is bad and racism is wrong: "I try to figure out but I don't understand/What makes one man better than another man," the title song pretends to muse. But the trio makes the same point more eloquently with its music, an egalitarian blend of synthbeats and live drums, Eastern and Southern rhythms, baritone rapping and soprano trilling. The most exuberant numbers dump the homilies in favor of jaunty horns -- including Kaplan's sax -- pumping accordion and programmer-percussionist Tamir Muskat's intricate polyrhythms.

Recorded in Tel Aviv and Belgrade, the album features a Serbian Roma (aka gypsy) orchestra, Jovica Ajdarevic Orkestar, as well as Moroccan Gnawa musician Hassan Ben Jaffar. Such additions never seem like a stretch. Indeed, the music is more strained when the band reaches for mainstream appeal with songs like "My Baby." Balkan Beat Box triumphs with weird, wild pile-ups like "Marcha de la Vida" and "Lijepa Mare," songs that rollick right past ethnic and political boundaries.

Standout Tracks: "Marcha de la Vida," "Lijepa Mare" MARK JENKINS